On July 25, our council and mayor voted 5-2 to pass a variance in their own bylaws to please a developer and themselves. I had the displeasure of being at the meeting, and they seemed more concerned with the colour of the building and pre-approved setbacks rather than the point in front of them.
Councilmen John French and Chris Pettingill spoke about how this was a “great idea” and how it supports their vision for the future of Squamish, and the mayor echoed their perspective. They said that when this development is finished, they have confidence that the “key” transit infrastructure between the Sea to Sky and within Squamish will be in place. They spoke about the “forward-thinking” plan, but I believe that is the problem. They want to transform our downtown core into a pedestrian utopia, but none of that is possible without proper planning, the infrastructure needed, and the funds to make it happen.
A fact of living in Squamish is being burdened by a vehicle. You might not “need” a car, but it significantly improves your quality of life. Beyond daily life, even some basic needs are not met, and so one must venture south to Vancouver for even the most basic medical needs.
Grocery shopping and going to the drug store are simple things, and why Squamish will be car-dependent for the foreseeable future.
Beyond regular daily errands, a huge portion of our population commutes to Whistler or Metro Vancouver on a daily basis and having a car is how they get to work in order to feed themselves or their families. They commute from sunrise to sunset, or even earlier and later, and that type of transit is years, if not decades, away.
AMC Development, in lieu of 28 parking spots (20 residential and 8 commercial), is to allocate $240,000 to some improvement plan that I didn’t catch the name of. A pathetic amount, which couldn’t cover a new bus, let alone the driver’s salary and maintenance. They were to add more bike storage in place of the parking spots, and when asked, the response was that this building would provide a Modo car rental and the Evo bikes would cater to the needs of the residents.
Coun. Greenlaw made a great point that the city’s bylaws are there and need to be followed, and that variances are granted only when something better is offered. It is not their problem if the developer cannot plan to follow them. After a quick “debate,” the variance was passed.
I completely understand that Squamish is a growing community and will continue to be. What I fail to understand is why the council is so delusional about how that growth will happen.
As a councillor, you were elected to serve the current community and to plan for the future–not the other way around. I would love to be able to walk from my house to a restaurant, or the grocery store, or the waterfront, but those things are not a reality when there are no sidewalks, no safe bike lanes between different neighbourhoods, no mixed-use and commercial spaces throughout each part of the town, no better and more frequent transit options, among other things. We must also look into basic services in our town, like the hospital, Brennan Park, and other community spaces that are of real use to residents. We must ask more of the council, developers, and, quite frankly, ourselves if Squamish is to be a place that serves us in every way, not just through deluded visions of an unrealistic utopia.
Sukhdeep Sidhu
Squamish
